How Does Priestly Draw Contrast Between the Attitudes of the Young and Old in Act 1?

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Priestly draws contrast between the young and old in Act 1 in many ways. Priestly used many different techniques to do so and this can be seen through the dialogue of each character. Also, you can interpret Priestley’s view point of the situation in the play through the characters and stage directions. There are differences between the generations when concerning the characters attitudes and how much responsibility they take, this can be exemplified, mainly when the Inspector reveals what has happened. The older generation can be exemplified through Mrs. Birling, Mr. Birling and Gerald, their attitudes revolve around protecting their own social status whereby do not seem to care for anyone but themselves and their family. This can be recognized when the Inspector reveals all about Eva Smith, and their reaction to this awful death, even though they are involved, seems to be non-existent. Through evidence from the inspector, they still persist that they haven't participated to this death. They are completely unsympathetic towards the girl and take no responsibility for their actions as their domineering behavior makes them feel as if they have done nothing wrong, this can be shown when Mrs. Birling states ‘I think she had only herself to blame.’ By stating this she reiterates to the Inspector that she feels she has no involvement in the death, by stating 'only herself to blame' in relevance to Eva’s death is very self-centered, as she is clearly trying to revert back to it being Eva's fault therefore diminishing herself and her family out of the equation even though she can be considered to play a large part in her death. As they are higher class than this girl they also feel as though the death is less important, as Mrs. Birling states 'Girls of that class.’ This demonstrates that she was prejudice towards the girl whereby due to her class and her position
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